


Ramifications of, Waking Up

by Thoreau_Me_A_Redshirt



Category: Bastion LARP
Genre: Cryogenics, Post-Apocalypse, SimTerra, Survival
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-01
Updated: 2016-08-03
Packaged: 2018-07-28 17:30:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,231
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7649947
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thoreau_Me_A_Redshirt/pseuds/Thoreau_Me_A_Redshirt
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Iunno if folks care about this stuff, but I enjoy writing. This writing is for a LARP that I participate in called SimTerra: Bastion. It takes place in northern Virginia. Its setting is a post-apocalyptic future some six hundred years from today. There are fantastic creatures, magic, and weird, new tech though it's nothing like what we know today.</p>
<p>The purpose of this fiction? This isn't a journal, per se, but it might as well be for my newest character. I'll write in first person. Brackets indicate future thought and knowledge as she reflects on her writing/thoughts.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Preface [OOC]

Lemme lay down some of that background info for you folks:

Bastion and this world is not mine. I've participated, by the time stamp of this first post, in exactly two events. My first was spent as a clocksmith robot - a creature who'd once been human until her body had been replaced by synthetic materials and computer programming. She's like a marionette doll, only she controls herself.

 **She** -the main character of this chronology- started out as a joke, Ariana "Aries" Donovan.

I'd accosted a man I met at this LARP, and told him that I had a leather jacket that was similar to his and how I could probably pass as a groupie or sister or something to him. I even went so far as to show the damned thing to him, laughing with him at the odd circumstance.

Whelp, the idea must have festered in his brain-case because next thing I know, this guy's begging me to bring in his sister. [Funnily enough, I didn't know his name for most of those months. I'm not great with names and he definitely doesn't make it easy to remember his name anyway.] SEVERAL MONTHS LATER. I finally agree. Moxy, while I loved her, isn't very fun in the summer. [RE: Redshirt's face LITERALLY melts off when she dresses up as her cyborg-robot.]

Aries and Moxy are on different sides of the spectrum - Moxy utilizes programming to tell her how to feel while she learns what emotions are to change herself from a sociopath to a "human." Aries is a fiery young gal from 1999 Boston that's accustomed to knowing what she wants. Moxy is very self-reliant and capable, already equipped with survival knowledge that has already saved the lives of others. Aries doesn't know shit about how to help herself and, outside of reading fiction and fantasizing about a post-apocalyptic future when her classes were particularly boring, is clueless about everything.

Both of my characters need help, but in different ways. Both of my characters impact players in different ways. I have goals for each of them.

Moxy - I want someone to try to control her. Better yet, I want to work with consent. I want Moxy to trust someone (not a clocksmith) enough to let them control her. In doing this, they'll unlock a potential in here that's devastating, but it requires trust - something of a limited commodity if you're not like her.

Aries - I want folks to teach her. I want folks to grow attached to her silliness and playfulness. I want them to want her to live despite her ignorance. She's got a lot of that in AJ, her older brother, but he can't be there for her 24-7.

So LARP on.


	2. The Cold Drink

My veins burned, I was _so_ cold. I should've worn my jacket in the cryo-tube. I hadn't because I was worried that the solution would warp the leather through the end times. When the tube flushed, I figured they'd caught me seconds after I'd spoken out and immediately reversed the procedures. I made a mental note to grab a blanket so the _next_ time I woke up I wouldn't feel like I'd taken a late spring dip in the ocean.  
  
[ **A blink and I'd missed centuries. Was this how it felt to be immortal?** ]  
  
My brother was there as the glass slid down. He stood before me rather than the scientist whose pock-marked face I'd remembered because I could trace constellations in that shit.  
  
"-my mind." _Oh good_ , I thought. _They heard me. I can go grab my Tamigatchi and bring it with me beyond the veil of Y2K._ But AJ's face was a wreck. Some of it emotion, some of it because it's _my brother's_ face, and most of it like he'd _seen_ some shit. [ **There were invisible scars that I didn't remember, but my eyes wouldn't see those until much later.** ] I didn't hear his first words to me since I'd talked over him like usual.  
  
Confusion clouded my mind. Wasn't that a side effect of the liquid coolant? I couldn't remember if it was the case. I couldn't remember what I'd had to eat that morning _either_. Though that might've been customary for me - I had a shit memory most days unless it was related to academia.  
  
My exclamation of surprise ("You changed your mind, too?") was immediately shushed. AJ threw a palm over my mouth. _Gross_. I jerked back reflexively; it always annoyed me when he did this, but there was something wrong. Too many words from everyone. I tried to focus on what AJ said, but I was still rather woozy from the five second nap. The barest of impression I got was something had gone wrong. Things were dangerous. My brother - was he crying? - acted like he hadn't seen me in years rather than minutes.  
  
"Where's your phone? Your jacket?" He hissed lowly.  
  
Uh. Good question. Should've been where I'd left it. The containment storage area behind my pod. They were there, thankfully. I hugged them and held AJ's hand like they were security blankets. Everything was very disconcerting. I owned it up to the drugs they'd pumped me full of prior to the freezing.  
  
Trusting in AJ, intrigued by the sight of some metal-cased being that looked like she(?) belonged in a Sci-Fi channel original movie, I stepped carefully. The lab looked all wrong. Things were covered in thick layers of dust. One of the pods looked like it'd been cracked open like an egg and was splashed with some dark paint. AJ gripped my hand when my fingers constricted about his. I wanted to ask so many questions, but all I could think of was that I really couldn't put it past him to do some sort of elaborate prank like this. God was it immersive, too.  
  
If you don't think he could do this sort of thing then you don't know my brother like I do.  
  
Then he begged me to close my eyes. I might've balked more than I did, but there was some thread of desperation in his insistence that I instinctively listened to. Sure. I could trust him on this. I held a hand out just in case he got funny ideas about "helping" me into a wall.  
  
I smelled the outside before I saw it - though it smelled different like I might've been in some hot, humid biosphere. AJ gave me confusing directions - _watch your step, DON'T LOOK_. For fuck's sake, he's difficult to please. I tried my best, but caught sight of it all. Gasping, I clenched my eyes shut again when he berated me. It wasn't my birthday; this was no surprise party. So why was he doing this?  
  
Something felt wildly wrong about it all. I knew this even then.  
  
Finally, outside, I realized some very important things. Now I'm no genius, but I like to think I'm an intelligent gal. I certainly don't think I'm an idiot... not like my idiot brother. [ **He's not an idiot when he stops to think, of course. Anyone else in this God forsaken dream says anything about him and I'll punch them with my strong arm.** ]  
  
One, it wasn't winter. It was December when I went in. AJ's good with trickery. He wasn't _that_ good.  
  
Two, there were some freaky things around us. They fooled me - I thought they might've been circus people hired by my bro to spook me. Everyone tried to talk to me. I hate being the center of attention and was embarrassed by the singular focus everyone gave me. Like _I_ was the freak show. The air held their tense expectancy. [ **Maybe they expected me to cry or flip out on them. I'm not entirely sure.** ]  
  
Three, AJ's never this physically affectionate. I mean, we hug and sometimes, when I'm feeling fancy, I'll do the Italian cheek kiss thing, but it was like he couldn't stop squishing me for fear I was some sort of illusion.  
  
That's about the time I decided it was a dream. A really freaky, realistic, crazy lucid dream.


	3. Wonderland

The journey between the wrecked cryogenics facility that had housed me for the last several centuries (if everyone was to be believed) and the tavern was mostly uneventful. I felt like I was relearning how to walk. The roads were littered with roots; the world looked like it'd been taken over by vegetation and even smelled bizarre. Here and there I'd swear that I'd see vestigial signs of home, but on second glance everything looked foreign. Maybe it was residual side effects from the drug-induced sleep.

Regardless, they pushed forward. The consensus was that we shouldn't loiter in that area. "It's unsafe here," everyone agreed. Several cosplayers really got me good with their costuming though. I mean, I watch some anime, but this was ridiculous. Several looked like they'd jumped straight out of Mad Max. One - of many, I later learned - could've passed for a furry. AJ told me that she'd adopted him.

Was this how Alice felt in Wonderland?

And then we were in "The Tavern." I thought it was some cutesy name, but glancing around, it had old oak benches and thick tables worn down to a smooth softness that reeked of stale mead and too many people rubbing elbows and hands over them. Upon entering, I was immediately distracted by the sight of someone with what looked like wings growing out of his back.

With my trademarked forwardness, I asked if I could touch them. He smiled, though I couldn't tell if it was genuinely kind or a mark of gentle confusion by my open-faced wonder. They felt so real. It was incredibly well-made. The winged man's able companion watched me rub the texture between two fingers and frankly informed me that they were actually embedded in his back. Of course, I scoffed.

"Alright, I know how physics work and there's no way wings the size of these could support this man."

The man regarded me like I was a simpleton. "They expand. I've a larger wingspan."

[ **I'd learn more about the dragon some time later. In lieu of not recalling his name, I'd refer to him as "Mr. Dragon." It's my dream, right? He never did correct me and, to my amazement all things considered from what I've read about dragons - listened and accepted my word as truth more often than not. I'll have to look into this to see if it's an innate ability for dragons within my dreams to sense truth.** ]

I stared at them. That was all at once brilliant and unbelievable. I'd inhaled to remark on this statement when AJ appeared, saying that he had something to show me.

"Okay sis," he caught my attention pulling me away from where I set my jacket, bag, and phone down on a bench. I looked up and saw that the strange group that had been gathered with us from the facility seemed to have grown. They were in a semi-circle about him.

The details of what happened are rather fuzzy. I get lightheaded just thinking about it, but dream-AJ thought it'd be funny to show me a "trick." He was going to have his arms cut off - but someone to his right shot him first. Someone shot my brother.

The explanation that followed was drowned out by blood rushing in my head. Someone else tried to speak to me - presumably to reassure me, but at that point my visioned narrowed to two pinpoints of light. I 'woke up' on the sticky floor, staring up at AJ who now had arms and no bullet wound.

I wanted to throw up. Someone must've seen it because after being hauled up to my feet, a lady offered me a drink. Shakily, I agreed that I could use one.

[ **Reflecting on this, it felt like the longest day of my life. What's more - I barely recall the important details.** ]


	4. I dub thee, Felicity!

For a time, everything was rather whimsical about the tavern. So I'll take a moment to describe one of the most fascinating of dream creatures that I met. She's a part of whatever family AJ has cobbled together in my absence, though she's the newest member.

 

Standing at about my height, a thin, lean killing machine by the name of "Just Myself" (JM) has evidently adopted my brother today. I would talk about him picking up strays (no really, females flocked to him back in Boston), but she honestly looked _at least_ ten times more independent than anyone else standing around the tavern, AJ included.

Though... on second thought, I might've changed my mind about that five or more times throughout the course of the day. Starting with when she got tangled up in caution tape and mewled most adorably.... but I'm getting ahead of myself!

My first impression of her was seeing her fur-coated cheeks and fuzzy ears: "That is the **most** realistic cosplay I've ever seen," I'd told her back in the clearing in front of the facility.

She tilted her head in an approximation of a cat pose. On-fucking-point.

I forget who told me to, maybe _she_ had, maybe one of the others in the clearing had, but I'd been told to touch her ears. So I did. I gave one a nice gentle tug, after all, I didn't want to pull off the headba- _welltheyweren'tcomingoff_.

Man did I piss her off.

She hissed at me, "don't ever touch my ears again."

Point taken. I wouldn't. Either the costume was firmly set or she was, and I struggled to think it without grinning incredulously, a half-cat, half-human creature.

[ **Turns out, she _is_ a real neko. She's called a cat ent. Ent is short for animal/plant sapient, by the way.** ]

So back in the tavern, she's getting into all assortment of cat shenanigans. I can't stop laughing at her antics. Somewhere between the catnip overdose (some serious shit right there) and the chasing a laser pointer, I began _thinking of her as a cat_. It certainly didn't help that she rarely speaks - which is always a surprise to me when she does it. [ **Like listening to a dog that can talk. ...Waitaminute. Did I say another species-ist thing?** ]

I suppose I borrow from my bro where I open my mouth and ought to insert my foot, but don't. Anyway, I had a difficult time thinking of her as a human being. The culture is different here. Everyone expects to be called something special that rarely makes sense to me. Rather than having a learning curve, everyone gets butthurt. Maybe it's the southern culture - we're still in VA from what I can tell, but I meant no harm in the things I ignorantly say.

"Aww, kitty!" I probably exclaimed this numerous times. I couldn't make sense of her facial expression, but when her ears laid flat against her head, I assumed I'd pissed her off.

Another time I told AJ we ought to name her "Felicity" after Felix the cat. Better than Garfield, honestly. But man was she **not** amused. It was then that I "realized" that she already had a name. You'd think people couldn't get mad at me for not knowing, you'd be wrong.

Oh, it doesn't end there, but to list **every** offense would probably take all day.

Anyway, she's cute. But then she'll get into this determined mindset and then she's the exact _opposite_ of cute.

So I'm sat at a table with AJ, trying to read over this tactical paperwork left there by some political bigwigs looking to scheme before heading to another dangerous dream dimension called Aquia. JM decides everything belongs on the floor.

Oh, how about the time that she said that my phone belongs to 'just myself?' Yeah. Nice wordplay there, doll. So I argued with a cat which, if any of you have ever cohabited with a cat, know this is a fool's errand.

Then there were the hairballs. And the knocking over cups of drink. And the general arrogance!

But that's only 85% of the time. The other 15% she's uncommonly loyal, hilarious, brave.

[ **Story time isn't over yet.** ]

So I'd finally started getting into the pace of this dream when frozen ice pops were announced. Excited, I tried to convey this to AJ.

"You know what they are, dummy," he said laughingly.

I rolled my eyes. I struggled to find words sometimes. Shrugging, I left him with the cat in the kitchen and went out to grab us all one. Returning victorious, I offered them the colors of their choosing. AJ wandered outside of the tavern back towards the throngs enjoying their sugar-ice and I showed JM how to eat it.

Trick is, cats struggle with cold things like this because of brain freezing. Trust me on this, I read it online somewhere. Anyway, after she failed to get the idea of how to deal with plastic, she finally wrapped her head around eating it! It was amazing to see her enjoy it.

So I go to exclaim as much to AJ, proud of the achievement, and to drag him back to see. Cats don't usually follow direction well if at all (read: too stubborn) and she had! But on his return, when I told her to show him the trick, she deep-throated the pop. Which was **not** my intention. Much elbowing ensued, I must've turned a bajillion shades of red, and I walked away to leave them to it.

[ **Looking back, this is hysterical.** ]

Later on during the day, we were helping some folks out. I guess the intention was that I'd stay behind, but I enjoy helping! AJ and JM appeared with the rest of the group after some time. I thought they had gone on ahead of me and had planned on leaving me back at the tavern. I'll tell the whole story later in as much detail as I can recall, but I discovered two important things from JM during this ordeal.

1\. She stuck around me. For having adopted AJ, I felt like maybe she felt like she needed to keep an eye on me, too. She didn't do anything as far as I could tell, but I was pretty much just running around. Having her around made me less anxious when I lost sight of AJ. I meant to tell her that, but Iunno, maybe that's not something a cat ent would understand?

2\. She thinks I'm dirty because a bug latched onto me. She _was_ gunna teach me how to clean myself, but another ent explained away how that wasn't advisable or possible. Sad days. I was interested to see how she'd go about with the lesson. Maybe I can lucidly morph into a neko, too? Who knows?

Later on that day, I struggled with this new, strange environment that made up my dream's scene. I'm not too keen being in the dark. It's kinda scary in the dream where things pop out at you and everyone expects you to know how to use a gun or wield a sword. But one thing that stuck with me was something JM said to AJ about me.

"She'll be your downfall."

I know he didn't like hearing that anymore than I did, but as I clutched the foreign metal grip of a gun and quivered in the dark, I couldn't help but wonder...

[ **What if I am?** ]


End file.
